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"The housing shortage in Saudi Arabia compounded by very steep real estate prices, among others, gave rise to creation of funds aimed at tackling the ticklish issue.

Industry practitioners came up with innovative solutions to ease the dilemma of buying and owning a house.

Many take the initiative to provide insight, analysis and answers to the housing problem in the Kingdom – comparing the number of solutions proposed by the government by ways of laws, regulations and the projects offered by the Ministry of Housing. Despite these, the problem remains – leaving room for more opinions and analysis."

"Hermitage Capital Management investment advisory firm co-founder and CEO William Browder has been summoned to a New York court as the principal witness to testify about his business in Russia.

The hearing is scheduled for August 15, with the subpoena delivered by lawyers of Prevezon Holdings, owned by Russian citizen Denis Katsyv, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The US government launched a lawsuit against Prevezon Holdings in September 2013, with the company accused of legalizing a portion of funds stolen from the Russian budget. The US prosecutors demanded that all the company’s assets in the US be seized."

"The Norwegian sovereign wealth fund invested in real estate in London, buying a 343 million-pound asset in the Mayfair district.

According to Norges Bank Investment Management, the fund bought a 57.8% share in estate between Regent Street and Bond Street from the Church Commissioners for England.

‘The consideration is net of the fund’s £36.1 million share of total existing debt. The Crown Estate purchased a 6.4 percent stake at the same time for £38 million. Contracts were completed on 8 August 2014,’ reads a note released on Sunday."

"Germany on Monday demanded that Ukraine forgo its plans to disrupt the transit of Russian natural gas to Europe as part of its proposed sanctions against Moscow.

German government spokesman Steffen Saibert was quoted by ITAR-Tass as saying "the federal government believes that Ukraine will not carry on with the measure Prime Minister [Arseniy] Yatsenyuk announced on Friday."

Yatsenyuk on Friday said Kiev was ready to impose a wide array of sanctions on Russia for "sponsoring terrorism, supporting the annexation of Crimea, and violating the territorial integrity of Ukraine," including putting restrictions on air flights and gas supplies to Europe."

"Ukraine doesn’t need Russia to take it down—Kiev is doing fine destroying itself, most recently with a new tax code that doubles taxes for private gas producers and promises to irreparably cripple new investment in the energy sector at a time when reform and outside investment were the country’s only hope.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on August 1 signed off on a new tax code that effectively doubles the tax private gas producers in Ukraine will have to pay, calling into question any new investment, as well as commitment from key producers already operating in the country.

The stated goal of the new tax code—a legislative package embraced by the parliament on July 31 with more than 300 votes–is to raise $1 billion, of which $791 million would go to fund the war effort in eastern Ukraine."

"The Sultanate's production of crude oil and oil condensates in July, 2014 stood at 29,660,034 barrels, with an average daily production of 956,775 barrels per day; a slight growth compared to the average daily production in June.

The gross crude oil exports in July 2014 stood at 28,045,039 barrel, with an average daily export of 904,679; a growth by 14.03 per cent compared to June 2014 when calculating the daily average, according to monthly statistics released by the Ministry of Oil and Gas.

As usual, the Asian markets received the biggest portion of the Omani oil exports with China topping the list of the Oman oil importers."

As analysts at JBC Energy note on Monday, however, the crude now trades at its weakest differential to Dubai crude — the benchmark it is most commonly compared to — since it became an established blend on the market in 2010.

Whilst the analysts are quick to point out that there are legitimate fundamental reasons for the weakness, it should not go unnoticed that some regular ESPO customers seem to be missing from the market."

"Turkish stocks fell to a five-week low as Fitch Ratings said the election of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as president will do little to improve the country’s credit profile. The lira weakened while bonds climbed.

The benchmark Borsa Istanbul 100 Index dropped 2.4 percent to its lowest closing level since July 2. The lira declined against all of its 23 emerging-market counterparts. Yields on two-year lira notes fell two basis points to 9.34 percent.

Political risk in Turkey is set to remain a credit weakness that may lead to a negative rating action, Fitch said in a statement today. Erdogan, who won enough votes to avoid a run-off in Turkey’s first direct presidential election, will have to step down as leader of the Justice and Development Party, or AKP, to assume office Aug. 28."

"Jet Airways India Ltd. (JETIN), the Indian carrier 24 percent owned by Etihad Airways PJSC, will end its budget-airline units in an effort to turn its local operations profitable, Chairman Naresh Goyal said.

The airline will close its Jetlite and JetKonnect businesses by the end of this year and fly all its planes under a single, full-service brand, Goyal told reporters today in Mumbai. The move will help it achieve its target of making a profit by 2017, he said.

“We are in this to make money,” Etihad President James Hogan said at the same event. Jet’s strategic location in South Asia puts it in a position to compete with Middle Eastern airlines on outbound traffic from India, one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world."

"Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) has rejected a $3.2 billion takeover offer from a U.S. private equity firm for its pay-television subsidiary OSN, the parent company said in a bourse filing on Sunday.

KIPCO owns 60.5 percent of OSN while Saudi Arabia-based Mawarid Group holds the remainder. They jointly refused an offer from the U.S. firm, which was not identified in the statement.

The offer comprised $2.4 billion in cash and a further $800 million subject to certain conditions, according to KIPCO. It said the offer was for between 51 and 100 percent of OSN; it did not elaborate."

"United Arab Emirates-based energy firm Dana Gas said an international tribunal had issued a favourable ruling in the dispute over a natural gas supply contract between its affiliate Crescent Petroleum and Iran.

The tribunal ruled a 25-year contract for National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) to supply gas to Crescent was valid and binding on both parties, and that NIOC has been obligated to deliver gas since December 2005, Dana said in a statement on Sunday.

NIOC and Crescent signed the 25-year contract in 2001, with the price linked to oil. But deliveries were delayed as oil prices rose and some officials and politicians in Iran called for a revision to the gas pricing formula."

"Kazakhstan announced last week a major government reshuffle, streamlining its ministries from 17 to 12. Most significant was the creation of a new Ministry of National Economy, merging a number of different agencies and oversight bodies under one roof to improve efficiency, and a revamped Ministry of Energy that follows President Nazarbayev’s reported criticism of the country’s energy sector as being “in disarray”.

The reshuffle is, in large part, a money-saving effort to counteract the after-effects of February’s 19 per cent devaluation of the tenge currency, a poor fiscal outlook, chronic delays to commercial production at the flagship Kashagan oil field, a modest outlook for commodity prices and weak exports to Europe. Most official data paint a relatively weak picture; the latest industrial production figures show a 2.9 per cent year on year decline in June, while first quarter GDP growth came in at only 3.8 per cent.

The government is hoping the reshuffle will dovetail with its plans to boost fiscal stimulus – to the tune of KZT1tn ($5.5bn) – over the coming two years, mostly using oil proceeds from the Kazakh National Fund, to direct money towards private sector development in a still predominantly government-run economy."

"Abu Dhabi stocks rose the most in more than a week, led by First Gulf Bank PJSC (FGB), as investors speculated earnings at the emirate’s second-largest lender will keep improving in the second half. Dubai’s main gauge advanced.

The ADX General Index (ADSMI) added 0.4 percent, the most since July 31, to 4,943.20 at the close in the Emirate. FGB, which accounts for more than 25 percent of the gauge, gained as much as 2.5 percent before closing 0.6 percent higher. Dana Gas PJSC climbed 1.5 percent after it said shareholder Crescent Petroleum Co. won an arbitration ruling against National Iranian Oil Co. Dubai’s DFM General Index advanced 0.1 percent to 4,739.95.

“A decent set of second-quarter numbers from FGB, driven by a strong performance across all business segments, means the bank remains one of the preferred picks among investors in this sector,” Nayal Khan, head of institutional sales and trading at Naeem Holding brokerage in Dubai, said by e-mail today. “The bank is expected to continue repeating its performance in the second half of the year.”"

"Last month volatility increased in global markets because of concerns of additional sanctions against Russia and problems in Portugal’s banking system, among other factors. By the end of the month, the CBOE Volatility Index, key measure of market expectations of near-term volatility conveyed by S&P 500 stock index option prices, was at its highest level since April and bond yields had surged.

However, central bank policies remain an overriding calming factor. Liquidity in the system remains ample and loose monetary policies have helped to keep the equity market’s response to increased geopolitical tensions in check.

Emerging markets continue to recover this year after a difficult 2013. Last month the MSCI EM50 Index was up 2.8 per cent, bringing year-to-date gains to 8.4 per cent. Dubai (up 46.5 per cent), Egypt (up 32.1 per cent) and Qatar (up 29.4 per cent) have been the best-performing markets so far this year."

"Al Jaber Group, a family-owned Abu Dhabi company which restructured its debt in June, is planning a sale of its transportation and lifting unit to help repay loans, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Al Jaber, whose businesses span construction, engineering and shipping, has hired Barclays Plc (BARC) to find potential suitors for the unit, known as Al Jaber Heavy Lift, the people said, asking not to be identified as the information is private. The unit is worth $500 million to $1 billion, the people said.

Al Jaber is among several businesses in the United Arab Emirates that sought to restructure debt after the global financial crisis in 2008 led to a crash in property prices. The company’s creditors included banks such as HSBC Holdings Plc (HSBA), Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc and National Bank of Abu Dhabi PJSC. Al Jaber’s total debt was estimated at about $4 billion, a person with knowledge of the matter said in March 2013."